Restricting controllers to certain zones

[Majik]

Originally Posted by xAP

Well I'd hoped that this feature might make it eventually but it hasn't - the latest (todays) update was very feature sparse and dissapointing, I don't believe this is a difficult feature to add and I've lost confidence that Sonos are listening to customer input anymore.

SIGH

I mean stereo mode for dual S5's - ... really ??

Yeah, I love it. It's something that's really going to be useful for me. I suspect for quite a few other people too.

And cross-fading.... loving it.

Daily alarms, awesome.

So whilst it might be disappointing for you... singular... for me and all of the large number of others who wanted these features, it's an awesome upgrade!!!

Cheers,

Keith

[xAP]

Cross fading is nice I agree, but it's a refinement rather than a feature as are the alarm enhancements. However I just can't see the point in using two S5's - one as left and one as right in the same room - it just isn't cost effective. Surely you would use an amplified ZP and two speakers. Using the left and right channels of a ZP as two independent mono zones however would be very cost effective but that's another topic and likely not possible. I'm sorry I'm not with you on this S5 feature.

I have a large Sonos investment , in fact two - one in a commercial (hotel) business and one in my home - over twenty zones all in all. But the inability to prevent every controller being able to control every zone is a major 'security' problem and dividing into separate housecodes doesn't work as you sacrifice overall control. I would like volume capping too but I have addressed that in a different (hardware) way, but that isn't as easy with S5's.

My comments are based on the fact that it's a now five year old 'sensible and practical' request from a large, and potentially larger user who has hit an unexpected problem that makes the system impractical for my needs. Others have the same issue too and I wish I'd realised this before I installed. It's a problem which will effect all larger users, particularly those in commercial installs. I regard this as a real problem rather than the refinements addressed in the latest release.

No one from Sonos has commented, company policy I know, and as a programmer myself I believe it's likely a relatively easy thing to implement. The fact I never know if it's being considererd, about to be released or ignored is what is most frustrating. It was 5 years ago I raised this and so I had hoped..... A telephone conversation with a Sonos support guy a couple of years back had hinted to keep an eye out for up and coming releases - hence my frustration.

It does cost sales too , maybe insignificant in my case alone as my system sale will only displace new sales of the same quantity - but no-one with a client distributed commercial install could sensibly use Sonos without a fix for this, and those are potentially big numbers.

I'm sorry my priorities are different to yours but it has become a system breaker for me . Hence my removal and sale of the commercial hotel system. FTTB I will be retaining my home system , but not expanding it to guest rooms.

K

[Majik]

Originally Posted by xAP

I'm sorry my priorities are different to yours but it has become a system breaker for me.

And that's fair enough, but suggesting, as you did, that Sonos isn't listening to customers when they've just implemented two of the enhancements with the biggest number of customer requestes (and one which, whether you use it or not, a fair number of people wanted including myself) isn't logical.

By the way, I intend to move my S5's into the garden in summer when I have a garden party and use them as a pair there. The rest of the year they'll be in separate rooms.

Cheers,

Keith

[Ubertaffy]

at the end of the day, there are 100s of features users want. Unlike many companies and products Sonos does implement upgrades from time to time. Unlike many companies who offer upgrades from time to time, Sonos does it for free. Unlike other companies with free upgrades from time to time, Sonos does it at least somewhat based on user feedback as can be proven by the LONG list of features asked for in this very forum that are now features. I could go on and on showing each step of the way how Sonos is certainly at or near the head when it comes to this category. BUT, this will never be enough as there will ALWAYS be someone or a group of people who didn't get their pet desire. Its not that I don't understand...I for example can see no reason why we can't have a bit MORE customization in alarms (and i say that even after a really nice addition to the alarms that I am very thankful for) with linking and setting minutes instead of choosing, etc... its just that from a 30,000 foot view I don't have the opinion that Sonos should somehow manage to give all 100 requested features in this update. So if I had gotten mine, someone else wouldn't have gotten theirs and they would be complaining about crossfading still instead of you about your zone-locking-out, etc.

Buy the system for what it does. If you get added features for free later that you like...great. If not...you should still be happy if you bought it for what it does.

[xAP]

My issue is that I bought Sonos for myself and loved it and then installed it as the best system possible in a very upmarket small hotel not realising at the time that this issue would emerge and actually become more troublesome with new features (iPhone app).. I can't stop guests playing music in other people's rooms at 5am unless I split the system into individual housecodes - and if I do that I lose the ability for overall control.

Yes, maybe I should have realised this at the time but I didn't , and I thought removing the zones access from a specific controller might be an easy request, and very desireable for these larger installs. I kinda hoped in 5 years this feature request might bubble to the top.

I even thought at one stage about pulling the zones button off controllers and blanking them off. Maybe I should revisit this but the iPhone app has made it worse because a client could pair to their ZP and then still access the whole system.

I am very grateful that Sonos continue to offer free updates, and that my home system expands in capabilities. It's great anticipating just what might appear in the next one but personally I just found this one very dissapointing.

I just feel that as a real issue within the Sonos system this ought to be addressed , particularly as it was exacerbated by the iPhone app availability. It's not cosmetic or a neat new trick, it's a fix to a very real problem and I thought Sonos would address it pretty quickly.

Enough said - I understand that everyone want's different features - it's just that mine means I have to replace the system with something else.

K

[Ubertaffy]

i understand this is a very little bandaid and won't solve the problem or even come close to it, but as to your concern about new clients bringing their ipods, downloading the sonos app, and controlling things... there is still a required step of them pressing the buttons ON the zone player to link to your system. If there were a way for you to have the zone player locked up or in a location that they cannot reach or wouldn't think to, then at least you can solve that.

[xAP]

Indeed - it wasn't the brightest idea really to choose S5's was it :-( They are neat because we can detect if one was removed from a room by loss of 'Ping' contact with it . We use a similar technique for the video recorders/players.

I was thinking I could take some ZP100's out my home and swap them with the S5's in the guest rooms. S5's are tidier than speakers but ceiling speakers might be even better plus I can limit and even reduce volumes after say 9PM much easier . Need to consider the room to room sound isolation though.

Currently following an angry non bill paying customer we're divided into separate housecodes too.

K

[Nielo]

+1 from me on this one.

Facing the same issue in a 18 zone home, where I would like to control all zones from my 'master' controller, but have the guests in their room having a controller or iPhone/iPod limited to their zones(bedroom & balcony) and common areas(patio, kitchen, etc.)

[dougalthedog999]

xAP why not tackle this from the other end and stop iphone users accessing the system via. wifi.

If you want to give your customers wifi access then it should be reasonably easy to achieve this in such a way as it is firewalled from the zoneplayers, even if it requires some extra access points.

Alternatively you could put the zoneplayers on a different IP subnet.

I agree 1000% that the lack of user levels or customised controllers is a huge flaw in what is otherwise a great system!

Please Sonos sort this one out!

Regards,

Terry.

[kensheaffer]

A am working on a 20 zone system and can really see having the ability to, at least prioritize, zones as a plus. For instance, my guest in guest room 1 won't have to scroll through a huge list of zones to get to his or hers. Or even worse, have to run across the house to ask the owner what zone they are in. Maybe assining a "My Zone" function to the controller will allow the controller to be temporarily locked to a specific zone until the "Control other zones" option is selected. And then, still have certain zones locked, like exterior zones. I can just see a guest, or even the owner, turning on the 12 speakers outside and around the pool in the middle of the night and not even knowing it. Just a thought. It seems that it would be simple for a programmer to implement this in the next update. It has been an issue for a while and since Sonos is on top, why not stay there?